that Reeves and his 6th & Idaho production company have renewed their contract with Warner Bros. TV and negotiated a first-look arrangement with the movie studio.
A sequel to The Batman, the Robert Pattinson movie that earned $770.8 million worldwide this year, will be directed and co-written by Reeves. Together with Mattson Tomlin, who wrote the first chapter, he will write the script. Warners is going forward with a spinoff of The Batman that will feature Colin Farrell as the Penguin, the antagonist he played in that show. Reeves has created a Gotham police-focused television series in the past, but it has been reimagined to focus on Arkham, the prison for criminals in this universe.
Following the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, which has seen new Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav seek $3 billion in cost reductions, the deal comes at a turbulent time for Warners. Batgirl, an HBO Max project that had already been shot and was canceled earlier this month as a tax write-down, has been one among the fatalities.
Another project by Reeves was canceled due to cost-cutting measures. On Monday, word spread that HBO Max would no longer be the home of the Reeves-produced animated series Batman: Caped Crusader. But sources claim that the show is far into production and will be pitched elsewhere.
Reeves is a thoughtful filmmaker who also produces works that have broad appeal. He directed the final two episodes of the Planet of the Apes prequel series prior to Batman. His filmmaking career began with 2008 found footage smash Cloverfield.
Under the new Warners picture chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, Reeves is the first director to obtain a first-look deal. In the wake of the cancellation of Batgirl, the studio is now trying to reassure filmmakers that it is still a talent-friendly studio by signing Reeves.
